Located in one of Denver’s oldest neighborhoods, the Washington Street site is on the edge of downtown. The street is lined with a variety of two story Victorian and typical Denver one story cottage houses. While the house makes several strong references to the existing typologies, it brings the volume and industrial nature of loft living to this single family home. The parti expresses the dichotomy of the two forms.

A visual survey of homes in the area was made from which a sense of materials, scale, proportion, fenestration, and porch elements were developed. Being an urban neighborhood and on a very small lot, only 37 feet wide, strong edge development was an important first step.

The north masonry wall is a response to the great number of red brick houses in the area. A terra cotta colored smooth red brick is used in combination with ground face block to form the load bearing double wythe north wall. The front porch extrapolates upon the cottage house porch vernacular through wood framing and playful columns. The two-story mass of the vaulting roof approaches the scale of the two story Victorians. The large living room window toward the street and Dining Room bay are direct responses to typologies found in many of the Victorian homes.